Early in the morning, all the ministers entered the palace to wait to see the emperor.
There was a lot of discussion among the civil and military officials that day, because they had learned the news from different channels earlier. In the past few days, various checkpoints in the Xuanfu were attacked by Tatars, and sporadic wars broke out. This happened to coincide with the emperor's previous proposal in the court that it was necessary to
Xuanfu has stepped up its vigilance.
"... Zhongtang, no one expected that the Tatars' target was not on the three sides, but directly towards the Xuanfu. When Datong came, based on the current battle report, Aries lost his mouth and regained it, and a war broke out with no less than a thousand people.
, this is the first time our Daming Pass has experienced such a violent impact after the Battle of Yingzhou."
As Minister of War, Peng Ze was the first to bear the brunt of the emergency military situation in the northwest and had to explain to the emperor at the court meeting.
But before that, he wanted to ask Yang Tinghe for his opinion.
Yang Tinghe looked grim.
Now the little emperor actually said that the focus of the Tatars' robbery is not on the three sides but on Xuanda?
How did the little emperor decide?
A blind cat meets a dead mouse?
Or are you saying that the Grand Governor Zang Feng or others have made suggestions?
With many puzzlements, as the court meeting arrived, Yang Tinghe walked at the head of the row of civil servants and strode into the Fengtian Hall with his head held high.
…
…
The morning meeting was uneventful.
Regarding what happened on the Xuanda front line, Zhu Si had the upper hand because he had overridden all opinions and ordered the Xuanfu Datong front line to be more alert, so that this time the border customs responded to the Tatar attack with ease, and neither the officials nor the people suffered.
big loss.
Of course, nip in the bud, and there is no merit without fault. Although Zhu Si earned a reputation as a god of knowledge, it did not substantially help him control the court.
At this court meeting, people from the Ministry of War were basically explaining the situation. Peng Ze and Li Kun, the right minister of the Ministry of War, explained the situation very carefully, and few others participated in the topic.
As a result of the final agreement, the imperial court dug out another 50,000 taels of money and grain and transferred it to Xuanda University for front-line response. In addition, the Ministry of Revenue had previously allocated money and grain worth about 70,000 taels to Xuanda University and the three parties respectively. This means that Xuanda University only
In the summer, as many as 120,000 taels of war supplies were received.
This does not include Zhu Hao’s own financing.
The court meeting ended in a strange atmosphere.
Yang Tinghe came out of Fengtian Palace with a bad look on his face, because this time not only did the little emperor have a longer face, but Zang Feng, who was not under his control, became a favorite of the imperial court.
On the way, Jiang Mian mentioned it intentionally or unintentionally: "The details of the Baiyangkou battle have not been transmitted to the capital until now. They only said that the pass would be lost and recovered. But the current state of the enemy and us, and the number of casualties on each side, are all a mystery. Why did it happen?
There has been no specific news in the past three days?”
"Um!?"
Yang Tinghe heard the key to the problem.
Although Baiyangkou is a pass extending from Xuanda to Yansui and is quite far away from the capital, when it comes to battle reports, the Eight Hundred Miles Express should deliver the news to the capital within two days.
Why is there no battle report for three days?
However, gossip spreads very quickly. Now people are saying that Arieskou fought a fierce battle and completed a fierce battle from losing to retaking it. Logically speaking, it will be extremely tragic...
There is no news now. Could it be that they are just waving flags and going through the motions?
Suspicious!
"decide as things go."
Yang Tinghe said thoughtfully.
…
…
It was not until the afternoon of that day that the specific situation of the Aiyangkou War was reported.
It was reported personally by Zang Feng, Governor of Xuanda University.
After Yang Tinghe got the battle report, he first looked at the scale of the Aiyangkou war. The Ming Dynasty sent more than 1,800 troops, and the Tatars who invaded the border were seven to eight hundred... First, the Aiyangkou garrison was affected by heavy fog.
, the situation was unknown, and they encountered a fierce attack by the Tatars, and after 16 people were killed, they voluntarily withdrew from the pass.
Then Tianchengwei commanded the Qianshi Jia Qin and his son Jia Ruyang and his son to lead more than 1,500 troops. They combined with Baiyangkou to withdraw their troops and recapture Baiyangkou.
Kill six Tatar heads, get fourteen horses, and get some weapons and so on...
Yang Ting and Ben were both leaving the cabinet for duty. After receiving this battle report, they couldn't explain how they felt.
As for the record, it's pretty good, with sixteen casualties... not counting the casualties during the second counterattack... By the way, the casualties in the second counterattack were not mentioned at all?
The final result was that six Tatars were killed, which didn't seem like a big gain.
This is the current situation in the northwest. The war is usually loud with thunder and light rain. It is more like a back-and-forth military operation to rob and prevent looting. Like the Tumu Fort Incident, hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of horses were killed or injured in one go.
Hard to show up again.
"Jiefu, this matter is of great importance. You should report it as soon as possible."
Jiang Mian came over to remind.
Yang Tinghe said: "It's such a huge effort. It's worth mentioning that Xuanfu and Datong are all soldiers. The result is just a war of such a scale. Is it worth it?"
From Yang Tinghe's point of view, I can understand the thunder and rain, but if the results are so small, isn't it too disrespectful to the court?
Thanks to Xia Tian, the imperial court allocated hundreds of thousands more taels of silver to the Xuanfu and Datong. The result is now like this. How dare you show off your merits?
Who knows if the heads of the six Tatars were taken for killing the herdsmen outside the pass?
Jiang Mian smiled and did not answer.
In Jiang Mian's view, as long as Xuanfu and Datong are fine, and the customs are safe, no matter what happens to him, a few days of stability in the capital is more important than anything else.
…
…
The next morning, the battle report was made public in the court.
Because Zhu Si wanted to win over Zang Feng, he praised Zang Feng's performance in this defensive battle. Although Zang Feng did not participate in the front-line battle, at least so far, the Tatars have not made a big fuss.
The trouble was just a situation in Arieskou, and it was quickly resolved.
"I would like to add Zang Qing's family as the censor of Youdu, and then use them again after returning to Beijing."
Zhu Si announced happily.
Zang Feng went to the Xuan Mansion as the right minister of the Ministry of Justice and the censor of the right Qiandu, and took charge of the military affairs of Xuan Da. This was the general rule for ministers to move to the border, because the strategic significance of Xuanda in the Ming Dynasty border was always not as good as that of the Three Kingdoms.
As a result, Zang Feng did not receive preferential treatment from his official position.
Before Zang Feng was transferred to the post of Governor of Xuanda, he was responsible for the Governor's water transportation for many years, and his rank was lower than this.
If he was moved to the right capital as an imperial envoy due to his merit, it would be equivalent to receiving the title of Shangshu and taking charge of the northwest military affairs.
Just because the emperor wanted to rely on such a small achievement of killing six enemies, he had to promote Zang Feng to an official position. When he returned to the court in the future, he would probably be appointed as the six ministers. This was obviously to train Zang Feng to be the successor of the Sun family.
The rhythm.
Yang Tinghe thought so in his heart.
Because the emperor's recent admiration for Zang Feng, it seems that he wants to bring Zang Feng and his soldiers and horses from Xuanda to the emperor's use. This place used to be the sphere of influence of Jiang Bin, Xu Tai and others. Now these people are dead.
The little emperor wants to take advantage of the situation?
snort!
Now that I understand your intention, how can I do what you want?
Yang Tinghe came out and said: "Your Majesty, the report of the Aiyangkou battle is incomplete and may need to be verified separately... False reporting of military merits occurs frequently in the northwest. If a large reward is given based on such merits, I am afraid it will disturb the soldiers of the border army.
Gives birth to a lazy mind."
That's not wrong.
There have never been many wars on the Xuanda front line, and Xuanfu is mostly used as a storage place for the northwest army. Even though it is located at a strategic location, it is rare to encounter wars all year round. Instead, the three sides are harassed every year. That's where it is
The northwest defense of the Ming Dynasty was the top priority.
Now you want to get a reward because of a small contribution to Xuanda?
Obviously favoring one over the other!
What does this make the soldiers on the three sides think?
Moreover, in the Baiyangkou War, it was clear that the first step was to abandon the pass and escape, and then it was reasonable to take it back... You didn't fight to the end from the beginning, and you just want to show your credit for taking it back?
How can it be so easy!
The bigger reason is that Yang Tinghe doesn't want the young emperor to recruit Zang Feng, let alone Zang Feng becoming the successor of the Minister of Household Affairs.
Zhu Sidao: "The battle report is detailed. I really can't think of anything wrong with it. As for the false report of military exploits... I only killed six people. Is that that?'
Yang Tinghe stared at the emperor.
You also know that only six people were killed?
If I killed sixty ***, I wouldn't say that!
"Well, let's find out first. Now, all parts of the Xuanfu are being harassed by Tatars. The war has not really ended yet. Let's wait for the final results to come out."
Zhu Si was not in a hurry. Seeing Yang Tinghe's objection, he retreated and did not press any further.
…
…
Although Zhu Si did not argue with Yang Tinghe, he still felt a little unhappy.
I left the palace in the afternoon to see Zhu Hao.
Zhu Hao was using the sand table to deduce the situation in the northwest, and from time to time he took out the battle reports from the three sides, Xuanda and other places, and conducted some simulations and deductions based on the topography.
"Zhu Hao, what are you doing? I want to play too."
Zhu Sixing rushed over happily.
But at this moment, a delicate voice came from the side: "Don't disturb him, he said, no one is allowed to talk to him."
But she was unruly and willful. At this moment, she was glaring at Zhu Hao's eldest princess, Zhu San, with her hands on her hips and her little mouth pouting.
Zhu Si raised his head and glared at his sister, as if to say, how can a woman like you enter this important military place?
Zhu Hao said: "Your Majesty, don't listen to her nonsense. I am calculating where the Tatars will attack next."
Zhu Si sighed: "I was about to talk about this matter. Today, I followed your instructions to award Zang Feng a reward, but I encountered great resistance. If I hadn't listened to you and not been as knowledgeable as them, otherwise... I would have to...
The credit must be given to Zang Feng."
"You can't fight for it."
Zhu Hao shook his head and said.
"What's the meaning?"
Zhu Si was puzzled.
Zhu Hao raised his head and glanced at Zhu San. Zhu San was immediately displeased. He was dissatisfied that he was in the way and was about to lose his princess temper. However, Zhu Si refused to tolerate her and ordered Zhang Zuo to come forward and take Zhu San away.
Leave the room.
No matter how upset Zhu San was, he could not openly disobey the emperor's younger brother. He snorted, turned around and left. As a result, only Zhu Hao and Zhu Si were left in the room.
Zhu Hao didn't care anymore and said directly: "This announcement of a great place to show merit is obviously a false report."
"What?"
Zhu Si was shocked.
I falsely reported my military exploits, and you still asked me to show my merits to the person who deceived me?
If this turns out to be a joke... wouldn't it mean that Yang's wish comes true?
"On the Xuanda front line, we have not encountered any decent wars in the past few years. In addition, the late emperor once stayed in Xuanfu and harassed many places, causing people's livelihood to decline. The Tatars have nothing to rob...Jiang Bin is nepotistic.
There are a bunch of people with wine bags and rice bags stationed everywhere, and it is not uncommon for them to falsely report their military exploits." Zhu Hao said.
Zhu Siyi laughed at this: "That means your plan is not to win military exploits for Zang Feng? Why is that? Tell me quickly!"
Zhu Hao stopped staring at the sand table and looked back at Zhu Si: "I just want this matter to go according to Mr. Yang Ge's wish and give him a reason to replace Zang Feng."